Sunday, March 13, 2011

Grave images: Six-pointed stars

The widely accepted symbolic meaning of a six-pointed star on a gravestone is creation. Or God. Or heavenly kingdom.

When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
—From The Tyger by William Blake

Stars were less common than other images on 19th-century gravestones here in central Ohio, but now and then I do come upon six-pointed stars, including on the gravestones for Timothy and Lucina Aldrich from my own family tree.

2 comments:

Would you agree with me that these 4 stones look a lot like John Strickler carvings? I've come across his works in Licking County, so why not connected counties of Delaware and Morrow? He had seven sons who also carved. Just a thought.